PRINCE GEORGE, British Columbia, June 2 (UPI) -- A British Columbia judge has been sentenced to seven years in jail for sex crimes involving underage aboriginal prostitutes, the Globe and Mail says.
Last month, David Ramsay, 61, accepted a plea bargain, admitting he paid runaway aboriginal prostitutes as young as 12 for violent and degrading sex acts.
At his sentencing in Prince George Tuesday, Ramsay told B.C. Supreme Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm: "I need treatment."
Dohm was unmoved and imposed what is believed to be the longest-ever sentence against a sitting judge in the country, saying Ramsay had shamed the judiciary, his family, and himself with "perverted lusts."
The assaults took place over a nine-year period starting in 1992, a year after Ramsay was appointed judge. At night, he would prowl streets in his car and purchase sex from the young street workers.
Ramsay's lawyer said the former judge is racked by shame and remorse, has attempted to kill himself and cannot explain what drove him to commit such violent acts against the teenage girls.
